Your SOPA markup primer: Thoughts from Smith, amendments and more - Markup could extend to Friday - Lawmakers take aim at OPM on IT - FTC as privacy cop - A setback for LightSquared?

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DRIVING THE DAY: ARE YOU READY FOR SOME SOPA? – Kickoff is 10 a.m. for the House Judiciary Committee, which convenes for what will be a blockbuster markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act. On offense is Chairman Lamar Smith, who unveiled a manager’s amendment earlier this week in the hopes of winning over more fourth-quarter support for the bill in advance of today’s session. Playing tough defense, though, is a coterie of influential lawmakers who plan to unveil a number of amendments to improve — or, in other cases, totally scuttle — the bill. Here’s your primer:

--SMITH ENTERS MARKUP CONFIDENT: SOPA stands at 31 co-sponsors, and that level of support “shows Congress’s commitment to combating foreign rogue websites that steal our intellectual property and damage our economy,” the chairman told MT in a statement late Wednesday. “This legislation preserves American jobs, protects the American economy and promotes American prosperity. I am confident that the committee will support America’s innovators and job creators by approving the manager’s amendment.”

--BUT THE AMENDMENTS COULD MAKE IT A TWO-DAY AFFAIR. In fact, a document obtained by MT reflects more than 50 amendments are pending consideration today. More amendments may be added late, and some may not actually be debated or offered during the markup. But the sheer volume of proposed changes could easily push a final committee vote on the bill past today. That doesn’t deter Smith. “[W]hile I am hopeful that the bill will be approved on Thursday,” he said in a statement, “the committee is prepared to extend the markup into Friday.”

--SO WHAT ARE THE TWEAKS? Chief among them is an amendment version of the OPEN Act, the copyright counter-proposal put forward by a few lawmakers unhappy with SOPA. Rep. Darrell Issa confirmed to your MT-er last night that members will “offer it as an amendment in the form of a substitute.” But, he added: “It will likely be ruled not germane because it does touch on another committee, but we at least want to have a discussion on it.” Issa added that he was not aware of “amendments other than the OPEN bill that would cause me to vote for [SOPA], but I'm certainly going to vote for every possible amendment to improve it.”

Additional amendments by Issa, Rep. Zoe Lofgren and others take whacks at the ability to use the DNS system to block access to foreign infringing sites. Other tweaks alter definitions in the bill. Still another, first reported by POLITICO yesterday, by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner removes the private right of action from the bill. Other tweaks try to weaken the bill’s immunity provisions. We’ll be tracking.

Good Thursday morning, time for your Morning Tech — where we’re quite shocked to hear more than 100 million Europeans, or a quarter of the European Union’s population, have never once surfed the Internet. That’s the official stat from record keepers there, reports Reuters: http://bit.ly/vBT1vB

They’re totally missing out on MT, not to mention the chance to send comments and tips to tromm@politico.com, or @tonyromm. Find contact info for the crew below today’s Speed Read.

TODAY ON POLITICO PRO:

--LIGHTSQUARED INTERFERENCE: A new government report could prove to be a setback for the company, reports Eliza Krigman. http://politico.pro/v0fwDM

FTC, PRIVACY COP, AS CONGRESS STALLS — Your MT-er’s story in today’s paper: “Tired of waiting for Congress to pass a law protecting consumer privacy online, cyber advocates have convinced federal regulators to take matters into their own hands: They’ve sentenced Web giants like Facebook and Google to 20 years of privacy audits and other sanctions. The FTC's proposed settlement with Facebook last week is the latest example of the watchdog agency protecting privacy online under long-existing trade rules. ... As Congress has failed to speak with one voice on the rules Web companies should follow, the FTC has transformed its enforcements into de facto rules of the road — and a message on the punishments that Web giants can expect for breaking them.” MORE: http://politi.co/sTrGUM

AND WHEN’S THAT FTC PRIVACY REPORT DUE? — “We are working very assiduously to finish our privacy report as soon as possible,” Chairman Jon Leibowitz told MT yesterday, noting it could come at the “end of the year, or very early next year,” though 2011 “is our hope and expectation.” He did not say, however, if a final report is already in circulation.

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UN, IMF AND OTHERS ASK FOR ICANN EXEMPTION — As ICANN begins to take applications in January for new top level domains, it should exclude for now the registration of the names of major intergovernmental organizations worldwide, according to a letter sent to ICANN this week. In their letter, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the NATO, the World Health Organization and a dozen other inter government organizations asked for the exclusion “at least during ICANN’s first application round and until further appropriate policy could be developed.” More: http://politico.pro/vyTTBC

MOFFETT: CABLE TO DOMINATE BROADBAND — “Cable is indeed winning the broadband wars,” Sanford Bernstein’s Craig Moffett wrote in a research note to clients Wednesday. Moffett predicts that Cable’s national share of the broadband market will rise to 67.7 percent by 2015 and 69.6 percent by 2020. “Technology adoption is creating a feedback loop that increasingly favors Cable's physical infrastructure,” Moffett explains. Cable, Moffett notes, has a superior physical infrastructure to the telcos, and that lends itself to the consumer demands for faster and more reliable service.

2011 IN MOBILE — Mobile Future is at it again this year with a wrap-up of 2011 in mobile developments. To capture some of the trends, the gang at Mobile Future made an animated video, which takes the viewer on a visual tour of the mobile landscape. Here are some fun factoids: eight trillion texts were sent — up 1.1 trillion from last year, Facebook saw a 166 percent increase in mobile users in the first half of 2011 alone, and 103 million wireless tweets were posted each day. Check out the video here: http://bit.ly/uo1CuL

ALSO TODAY — House Financial Services convenes a hearing on H.R. 3606, the “Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act of 2011,” beginning at 9:30 a.m. ... Sen. Joe Lieberman will deliver a speech on cybersecurity before the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council, beginning at 7 p.m.

SPEED READ, by David Saleh Rauf:

GOOGLE CLOUD REJECTED: The L.A. City Council has abandoned plans to move 13,000 law enforcement personnel to the Internet company's cloud-based messaging system because it can’t meet security needs, the L.A. Times reports. http://lat.ms/rB57YU

IBM SETTLES EU ANTITRUST CASE: IBM will be required to provide rivals with some spare parts and technical information for five years under the terms of an agreement reached with the EU Commission, the NYT reports. http://nyti.ms/tHzxGS

APPLE INVESTS IN ISRAEL: The company is planning to open its first R&D center outside of California in Israel’s version of Silicon Valley, Reuters reports. http://reut.rs/vmlGtg

BILL GATES RULES OUT RETURN: The former Microsoft chief is not interested in returning to run the company, Electronista reports. http://bit.ly/uzhQ8y

ATTENTION SHOPPERS: YOU ARE BEING TRACKED: As increasing numbers of shoppers migrate to the Web, brick-and-mortar retailers are using new technology like tracking mobile phones to boost sales and keep market share, the San Francisco Chron reports. http://bit.ly/v7rUz3

SEVERANCE PAYOUT FOR OUSTED HP EXECS TIGHTENED: Senior executives forced out at HP will receive a revised severance package that requires them to leave behind restricted shares or options that aren't vested when they leave the company, the WSJ reports. http://on.wsj.com/rw6qde

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OMG is right. And the most amazing part is, you’ve never heard of us. Our nationwide infrastructure makes sure your call, text or Internet search gets routed the right way, every time. Our technological know-how handles a lot more — from managing the .us domain, to seamless upgrades to 4G networks, to ongoing innovations that help telecommunication companies offer great, new products and services. So as the telecommunications world keeps changing, we’ll change and innovate along with it. Learn more at www.neustar.biz/thetechnology and follow us on Twitter @neustar. **